Dearest Departed
by Monki-Neko
Summary: Implied Hermione and Draco. Of a mother's harsh love and her son's shocking, forbidden love.


Dearest Departed

Hatred bound us in cold blood,  
Yet strange I find that  
No amount of deadly curses and ominous words  
Served to keep us apart;

Your mother's cruel taunts about the purity of blood  
From "most noble ancestry we have been born of ",  
She spoke and looked upon me with nothing but malicious intentions  
Platinum blond hair, so smooth and sleek  
Concealed within her mind the terrible secrets that she may keep

Once she had known of love,  
Its soothing warmth, its boundless joy  
But by her family's wealth,  
By her world's expectations  
And simplest most by her own young, foolish, vulnerable heart--  
She lost the One,  
At least she thought he was--  
From listening to honeyed poison,  
Conveyed from her supposed confidant  
Of her mother, who she had always admired and thought also to have loved

She had no reason to go to him now,  
For her sweet mother had warned her of a commoner' guile  
But deep in her heart,  
Still young and hoping for the untold truth  
She flew to him on the midnight currents  
And to her un-ending demise,  
Her heart-rending pain,  
She had no choice but to watch him embrace another  
And speak of love, forever and true  
And speak of lies, of deceit well played  
And speak of the End, so near and dear

Her heart with its scars still bleeding and raw,  
Now shattered at his words  
And the arms that did not hold her--  
A dream she had wanted so much,  
Perhaps it was all a dream that she could not bear so  
That had made her believe it could ever come true

And she left,  
Vowing never to love again  
And so did not see her lover break the spell,  
To tear his arms from the cursed stranger  
Who had forced such words of love from his lips to hers  
No longer was he bewitched  
But now, no longer would he ever know  
Of the love he had unknowingly lost  
And the heart that would never love another again

A marriage of convenience,  
An heir born in a timely manner--  
All passed through the years with bitter, detached thoughts

So now all she could see when she looked upon the two:  
Her beloved son and heir, Draco she had named him  
And the Mudblood, Granger they called her  
Who claims intelligence and wit  
Far above what society would ever grant her  
And against the Pureblood propaganda  
All old families are taught since cold, calculated birth  
Given into the arms with cold, calculating eyes…

Well all she could see was of a past long gone  
But never, ever forgotten  
And so she did everything,  
From harsh words and cold shoulders  
To ruined dresses and deliberated murder  
So that, in the end, he may not fall as she did  
And have a heart stolen only to be forgotten

And let us not forget

My old love's reminder about seven year's worth of degradation--  
Cruel for he only spoke of the unavoidable truth  
Crueler still for the lips that spoke them,  
As first love will always be remembered  
And now is tainted by unjust actions  
And remarks that cannot be denied  
When the perpetrator is the one,  
That I will now call lover

Once, he was my One and only  
When books and all their ancient knowledge were my only passions  
My first friends and beloved mentors  
My salvation  
From a world that mocked me for me and my dreams  
And another world so newly initiated  
That denied me for my blood  
What was left for me but my books, so true and good?  
What was I to say but of what I knew?  
What was my only chance to survive but by being the best?  
Even if it meant becoming the outcast?

Ronald was his name  
He was the forest fire;  
Always burning , always fighting , always there  
His temper could never be wholly extinguished  
But it could sometimes drown in his fears

He resented my craving for knowledge  
He despised being showed up  
He hated to be wrong  
He could never admit fault  
He didn't like me at first  
And I had only ever thought of him as that "plus one"  
To some wedding reception someone forgot to keep quiet about,  
Mistakenly offering him an invitation  
Turning an awkward moment into an agonizing night

How harsh it seems to hear from someone like me  
Who's supposed to be made of Christmas cookies and smiles so sweet  
Such words not befitting a noble lioness from my House  
Yet, he did not like I nor did I find anything to admire in him  
Still, years past and our acquaintance became something more--  
Something like friends  
And from then we slowly came to be more than sort-of-friends  
More than the person who knows my secrets  
More than someone who cares  
More than the one who sees my tears even when I am basking in glory  
More than anything I had ever known

But greater than the flush of newfound love  
Was the petty jealousies over the years and our little trysts  
That made it possible  
For he and I to be  
And made it possible, too, for our easily broken bond  
My heart felt sore and bloodied raw  
But it knew, too, that there was more than just that one love to be  
And dreaded that fated day  
And perhaps more  
It could not but wish for a swift arrival  
For waiting, as always, was far more agonizing than the actual thing  
Whatever it may be

And so more years past until the day came  
For another love to be  
No matter how much trouble it would cause  
Or the unaccountable chaos of an un-intended union  
Born of hate and turned to love  
Such a bond, though not easily broken  
Cannot be easily made

For somehow it seems,  
Fate had a change of heart  
And decided that I had far too easy a path ahead of me;  
For the occasional fight between the Houses  
Of Gryffinder, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw  
With fists crunching bones and spells breaking minds  
A war to be fought against a maniacal Dark Lord  
And a number of prejudiced, bigoted minds  
Inclined to wearing masks and slaying from the shadows  
Like the demented, ridiculous beings they shadow from muggle history--  
Apparently all of this was not enough  
To make my life more like Hell

So I made friends with someone  
Who shouldn't even be considered a friend  
Much less someone I could ever, truthfully love  
But it happened and it is  
What it is

Still, you and I were once enemies  
Whose hatred was unstoppable  
Our dueling legendary within the hallowed halls of Hogwarts  
And whenever our eyes met,  
Your blue-grey eyes so reminiscent of a snake's  
My toffee ones with the amber shards that made you first notice me--  
Yes, whenever our eyes met there was no one but us

Burning, searing fire that will never be so easily tamed  
Such was my convictions, my morals, my voice  
Chilling, bitter ice that even centuries of sun would never thaw so kindly  
Such was your eyes, your history, your words

We fought like savages  
We fought like the enemies we were sorted to be  
We fought because there was nothing else between us then  
We fought for what we believed in,  
Or, at least, that was what we were told  
We fought for ourselves to prove the other wrong  
And we always waited for the other  
No matter  
No where  
For we knew beyond all doubt and uncertainties  
That the other would never turn their back  
Or silence their voice

"Let horror know no bounds between us"  
That was our unspoken vow  
Our own little sport  
Scornful words and demeaning sneers,  
Unfriendly eyes and vicious spells

They meant nothing to my tears at your absence  
To remind me of why I needed to be strong  
To not give in even when the world was against me  
In solitude I met the phantoms of my dreams

Or to your mute screams of a future you could not escape  
When I could not take away your pain  
With a convenient target for your hate  
Left alone to face a horrible truth

That was the way it was for so long  
That we forgot there could be room for anything else  
That there were always more chances than dead ends  
That we had a chance, you and I, to be more than anyone thought we could be

And though all was determined to separate us  
To turn us upon the other  
To force the past down our throats  
Our broken souls crying out for repentance  
We did not heed their warnings of failure  
Of betrayal yet to come  
For we were veterans in a war so foolish and meaningless  
That we considered all who did not see the horrible, apparent reality  
Of what our actions had caused  
Of lives lost that can never be replaced  
That the true traitors were they  
Who wanted to live pretending that a victory for the "greater good"  
Was a victory for all  
And they  
Who could not believe they had lost the war,  
Their traditions forever defeated

There's a fine line between love and hate  
It has always been said  
As there was between us and our silly little games  
And there was no turning back  
From that first kiss, that first embrace  
So when we looked upon the other  
And vengeance nor repulsion was our first thought  
We knew then that we were destined to be  
No matter our reasonable arguments  
No matter our past ties  
Farther from our minds was to deny what was  
Or what could be  
There was nothing but our actions,  
Unforgivable and true  
To lead us and to tell us  
What our next choice was to be

And so we tried  
And found we could  
And now here we are  
Together  
And understood


End file.
